Law, order and defence expenditure

Two essential tasks of a government are to protect the state from external aggression and maintain law and public order within its frontiers. Over the period considered here, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a reduction in defence expenditures in many OECD countries, while the terror attacks in the United States led to increases in government expenditures on internal security. The figures shown here reflect these opposing influences.

Definition

The table is taken from national accounts sources, and the data conform to the definitions of the 1993 System of National Accounts. The expenditures cover all expenditures whether current or capital.

Law and order covers the police forces, intelligence services, prisons and other correctional facilities, the judicial system, and ministries of internal affairs. Note that the figures shown here do not include the costs of government-mandated security arrangements at airports, seaports and other border crossings. Nor, of course, do they include the provision of security in shopping-malls, football matches, concerts and other public gatherings, all of which have certainly increased in recent years.

Comparability

Data are taken from national accounts sources and have been compiled according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). The distinction between current and capital expenditures in the case of defence expenditures has not proved easy to apply in some countries, but, in general, the data are broadly comparable.